{4.5/5} “Even if it is an alien invasion, they’re four foot high, blind and got kicked to death by a bunch of kids. We got nothing to worry about.”

Attack the Block, released in 2011

Moses is the leader of a gang of teenagers in London. They start the evening by mugging a woman named Sam. But then aliens start falling from the sky and they have to defend themselves against sightless giant-mouthed monsters. In the process they meet up with Sam again, visit their not-so-friendly neighbourhood drug dealer, and give various excuses to their parents as to why they’re out late.

This movie is hilarious. It also has something to say about how kids in a gang might not be as horrible as you think and they might have reasons for doing what they do. The movie didn’t reach as far as Prometheus did, but it was more successful at doing what it tried to do than that bigger movie.

If you’re watching the movie and finding it hard to understand what the characters are saying, turn the subtitles on — they speak in a slang that’s difficult to understand.

The actors are all new to me. Most of them are new or relatively new to making movies and they did a fantastic job. Jodie Whittaker (Venus) plays Sam and John Boyega (TV movie Da Brick) plays Moses. Franz Drameh, Alex Esmail, Leeon Jones, and Simon Howard play members of the gang.

The movie was directed by Joe Cornish, a TV writer and director who contributed to the screenplay of The Adventures of Tintin.